A Rodelinda to be applauded warmly - ENO, London Coliseum, review 

Three years later, it returns, with Evans still in the title-role – always stylish, always elegant, but lacking some of her former glow and fullness, the voice falling a little tired at climaxes and less precise in runs and roulades. Tim Mead has taken over from Davies as her husband Bertarido, and while he gives an immensely assured and accomplished performance, he doesn’t command his predecessor’s seraphically melting beauty of tone  – a sound that made the aria “Dove sei” heart-stopping.

Such odious comparisons aside, I applaud them both warmly, not least for their sublime duet at the end of Act 2 and their excellent diction (from my seat without a view of the surtitles, I could easily hear 90 per cent of Amanda Holden’s translation).

The staging, on the other hand, is not quite as I remember: since 2014, it has travelled to Russia and en route appear to have picked up a lot of detail and business, much of it relating to the silent character of Rodelinda and Bertarido’s son Flavio – normally played by a child but here a young adult (Matt Casey).

This is opera seria, originally a static affair in which the singers assumed sculptural poses as they delivered their arias; modern audiences need things to be livened up, and the setting of a Fascistic mid 20th-century Milan works well enough in relation to the plot, with Rodelinda plausibly played as a widow in the Anna Magnani mould and the oleaginous villain Grimoaldo (Juan Sancho, excellent) as a corrupt police chief. But the pervasive restless jokiness is a step too far in the direction of guying the whole thing up: an element of classical dignity might have made it more emotionally involving.

Neal Davies and Susan Bickley live up to their staunchly reliable reputations as the scheming Garibaldo and Eduige, and a young counter-tenor Christopher Lowrey also makes his mark as the courtier Unulfo. Christian Curnyn conducts without exaggeration or idiosyncrasy. Overall it was a strong performance, but with a duration of over three and half hours, perhaps one that can only be confidently recommended to paid-up Handelians.

Until 15 November, in repertory with Aida. Tickets: 020 7 845 9300; eno.org